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Human sexual orientation has been a controversy with a high tendency for debate. Lesbians, gays, supporters, and their friends are in a heated dispute about the origins of sexual orientation. There are many possibilities, spanning from personal lifestyle choices, environmental factors, to genetic heredity.

In the past few years it has become increasingly popular to examine homosexuals, in hopes of determining the basis for a lifestyle involving same sex relationships. Henry Havelock Ellis first addressed inquiries on the basis of homosexuality over a century ago. Ellis stated that people engaging in sexual practices deviating from the regular format should be accepted by society, and laws against this group of people should be put aside, due to the biological differences of each persons makeup (Hyde & DeLamater, 1997). Most of the recent discussions and studies on homosexuality with a genetic influence have begun in the past decade.

Many researchers of this decade have been involved in the discovery of a “gay gene”, but none as much as the infamous Dean Hamer (Pool, 1997). Hamer studied under molecular biology and psychology, so there is no concrete title by which he goes. Hamer spends his days searching countless thousands of human genes and genes of other species in what seems like an endless investigation into what shapes our human personalities. “I believe we’ll find out something important about human behavior by studying its genetic basis,” says Hamer. Dean Hamer never insists however that genetics

rules every aspect of our personalities. He simply says that genetics does play a role in forming certain traits, coupled with home environments, schools of attendance, ethnic backgrounds and factors such as these. When looking at genetics from this perspective the previous elements are called...